Macao granted better market access to Chinese mainland amid financial crisis

In terms of the MICE industry, which is a prominent industry in the SAR's effort to diversify its economy, service providers in the SAR will be allowed to organize exhibitions in the form of cross-border supply in major Chinese municipality, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, and provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian on a pilot basis, in addition to Guangdong province and Shanghai which has already been opened to the SAR.

Meanwhile, the new supplementary protocol also lowers the entrance requirements for medical services sector. Macao service provider will also be allowed to run health clinics and work as pharmacists respectively in the mainland, as long as they acquire relevant licenses.

Before the signing of the Supplement VI, the central government has already launched nine measures concerning six areas, including finance, infrastructure, regional cooperation, funding Macao's small-and-medium-sized enterprises, ensuring Macao's food supply, etc, at the end of last year, which not only were aimed to help Macao tide over the economic downturn, but further promote the integration of the Pearl River Delta region in Southern China, which mainly include the Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao.

The central government will "unswervingly support Macao to overcome its difficulties and maintain a stable economic development," said China's Premier Wen Jiabao when meeting the SAR's Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah previously in Beijing.

Editor:Liu Anqi